The trends in these indicators show deterioration in overall funding health for all three states and sharp increases in
unfunded liabilities for Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Unfunded liabilities are more than a short-term problem; Rich and Zhang estimate that if current pension deficits were to be eliminated over a period of 30 years, the increased annual tax burden would be $1,385 per household (2014, 1).
Tanner correctly puts the federal government's debt and
unfunded liabilities at more than $90 trillion (p.
Critics have called for public pensions to reduce their assumed rates of return to as little as 5 percent or less, which would cause
unfunded liabilities to soar and likely leave taxpayers having to cover the difference.
If that is approved, cities and counties could issue bonds to retire the
unfunded liabilities of the closed police and fire funds.
So worst-ish case scenario: Illinois has, say, $125 billion in
unfunded liabilities that are the responsibility of, say, 2.
This study concludes that, while measures such as the ones being considered by these states may have modest effects on reducing
unfunded liabilities, a large share of the
unfunded liabilities will remain.
Using the (inappropriately) higher discount rate,
unfunded liabilities are estimated to be only $800 Billion, versus $3 Trillion using the lower rate.
Los Angeles Assistant City Administrative Officer Tom Coultas said figures for the city's retiree health
unfunded liabilities were not readily available, but he said city officials have asked the actuary to look at redesigning the city's existing pension and retiree health system for new employees.
According to ex-comptroller general Walker, the
unfunded liabilities for the Ponzi schemes of Social Security and Medicare are approximately $53 trillion.
The
unfunded liabilities are large because governments typically have not set aside any funds for the future payment of retiree health benefits as they have for pensions.
The union said 21 of the insolvent pension funds had
unfunded liabilities of almost pounds 2 billion and claimed that figures for the others were not available because of the secrecy surrounding private equity companies.
